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Wood Asystasia
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Wood Asystasia
P Nntroduced Photo: Pravin Kawale
Common name: Wood Asystasia
Botanical name: Asystasia nemorum    Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Synonyms: Asystasia blumei, Isochoriste javanica

Wood Asystasia is a perennial herb growing up to 1 m tall. Leaf blades are ovate to lanceshaped, measuring 6-12 x 3-5 cm, hairy on underside of leaf along the veins, hairless or hairy on upper side of leaf along the veins, tip tapering, base narrowed, margin wavy-crenulate. Flowers are borne in racemes at branch-ends or in leaf-axils, measuring 5-9 cm. Bracts are triangular, hairy; flower-stalks 1-2 mm; sepal-cup is 5-6 mm, with lanceshaped sepals. Flowers are red to purple-red, , about 2.2 cm, outside hairy with gland-tipped hairs. The flower-tube is long, and petals ovate 4-5 x about 3.5 mm, unequal. Capsule is 1.8 -2.2 cm, seeds irregular obovate. Wood Asystasia is native to S. China and Indo-China. Whether it is native to India too, or only cultivated here, is not clear. Flowering: August-October.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Alibag, Maharashtra & Trivananthapuram, Kerala.

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